Singapore 2013 - Lucha Loco

A friend introduced us to Lucha Loco - a gourmet Mexican restaurant in the Duxton Hill area which has been creating quite a buzz in the Singapore food scene since opening not too long ago. The restaurant is in a detached shophouse with a garden terrace on the side - a very rare find in land-scarce Singapore. We were very happy to be placed on the garden terrace as it was quite a pleasantly cool evening. A pleasant surprise was they were celebrating the Day of the Dead - and all the waiters and waitresses were made up with ghost faces.

Lucha Loco doesn't take bookings except for groups over 12 people, and with groups, you need to go for the group menu which is not too bad as it includes most of the popular items from the normal menu. The food concept is based on Mexican street food but taken up a few notches with quality ingredients and inventive cooking. I am happy to report that the food at Lucha Loco is really good, most of the dishes were delicious and a few were exceptional.

One of their must-have items is Elotes - Mexican street-style grilled corn. The sweet corn is rolled in mayo and then in Cotija cheese and sprinkled with chili. This is the best grilled corn I have ever tasted.

I also loved the Octopus and Prawn Ceviche which had a nice balance of flavours and tartness that excited the palates. 

All the tostaditas are good but the stand out was the crab with habanero oil, avocado and scallion. 

The New Zealand Rib Eye tostaditas was also very good and looked very pretty on the plate.

You must have tacos at a Mexican restaurant, and the best one was the Pork Belly Taco with jicama and cilantro mayo. The pork belly was melt in your mouth and very flavourful. Suggest you order a double serving or you will be fighting over it.

Compared to the pork belly, the Baja Fish Taco was a bit pedestrian.

They also have some more substantial dishes for sharing. The New Zealand Rib Eye Steak on cactus and chimichurri sauce was wonderfully tender and packed with big flavours from the sauce. 

The pork ribs with chipotle-honey glaze and pickled onions were even better. The meat was smoky, sticky, tender and falling off the bone.

They have limited dessert selections here but make sure you order the blue corn cake with agave nectar and mezcal cream. The cake has an interesting crunchy texture from the corn and combines beautifully with the smooth mezcal cream.

Lucha Loco is a surprise find in Singapore. It has great ambiance, the diners all seem to be out for a good time and enjoying themselves, and the food is delicious.